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“Health sector facing manpower shortage”

Staff Reporter

KOLKATA: The state healthcare system is facing a shortage of human resources including doctors, nurses and paramedical personnel, State’s Minister of Health, Surjya Kanta Mishra, said here on Saturday.

Mr. Mishra was addressing the Health Economic Summit 2008 organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “The prevalent medical education system is proving inadequate to produce enough doctors of good quality to serve the large section pf population,” he said.

He admitted that 80 per cent of healthcare expenditure in the country is borne “out of the pocket” and pointed out that “ unless the infrastructure in the public healthcare system is developed to provide better service, expenditure in this sector will also not rise.”

On allowing more private investors to develop medical colleges to cater for the needs of the sector, State’s Director of Health Service, Sanchita Bakshi said: “Though we need quality doctors, we prefer public-private partnership in medical education in the state rather than privatising it.”

“Due to lack of knowledge and awareness, many noble initiatives in this sector find very few takers. Very few people have knowledge of the health smart card system, which offers a portable medical record with standardised information,” Subhashis Gangopadhyay, advisor to the Union Finance Ministry, said.

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